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Jan 1, 1938

By H. K. Shearer

There were no important developments in the oil and gas industry in South Arkansas during 1935. Oil production, totaling 11,138,340 bbl., continued the decline that has been normal since 1925, but the decline from 1934 was only 278,600 bbl., or 2.5 per cent. The principal decline was in the Smackover field, while only the Champagnolle and Garland City fields showed notable increases. More wells were drilled than in any recent year, with a total of 123 completions. There were 44 oil wells, with a total reported initial daily production of 10,013 bbl., or an average of 227 bbl. per well. Two small gas wells were completed in Union County, where the gas is used locally for pumping and field operations. There were 77 dry holes, of which 28 were in or near oil fields and 49 were wildcats. Active drilling oper-at'ions declined from 65 at the beginning of 1935 to 41 at the end. Most of the drilling was done during the first part of the year, espr-chially (luring the flurry caused by the discovery late in 1934 of the "Taylor" sand production in the Champagnolle field, but the producing area was soon outlined. In November, 1935, the J. E. Crosbie, Inc., NO. 1 Sullivant in sec. 12, 17s. 14W., producing 560 bbl. per day at 3175 ft., opened a new sand lens in the eastern part of the field. The Camden "oil field," discovered in the last week of 1934, remained a one-well field, although four offset tests were drilled, besides a number of others in the immediate vicinity. Several interesting deep tests were drilled during the year, which added a great deal to the general knowledge of the subsurface formations and the structure of south Arkansas, but were not particularly encouraging as to prospects for the very deep production. First, the H. L. Hunt, No. 15 E. F. Gregory well in sec. 10, 17S., 14\W., in the Champagnolle field, was drilled to a depth of 6911 ft. It pene-trated red beds for 2982 ft., from 2943 to 5925 ft., mostly if riot entirely of Lower Cretaceous age. There was some anhydrite in the last 135 ft. of red beds. This was followed by 890 ft. of limestone, probahly Permian, and the rock salt was struck at 6815 ft. The salt is now generally conceded to be of Permian age. Finding salt in this well strongly indicates

Jan 1, 1936

By H. K. Shearer

There were no important developments in the oil and gas industry in South Arkansas during 1935. Oil production, totaling 11,138,340 bbl., continued the decline that has been normal since 1925, but the decline from 1934 was only 278,600 bbl., or 2.5 per cent. The principal decline was in the Smackover field, while only the Champagnolle and Garland City fields showed notable increases. More wells were drilled than in any recent year, with a total of 123 completions. There were 44 oil wells, with a total reported initial daily production of 10,013 bbl., or an average of 227 bbl. per well. Two small gas wells were completed in Union County, where the gas is used locally for pumping and field operations. There were 77 dry holes, of which 28 were in or near oil fields and 49 were wildcats. Active drilling oper-at'ions declined from 65 at the beginning of 1935 to 41 at the end. Most of the drilling was done during the first part of the year, espr-chially (luring the flurry caused by the discovery late in 1934 of the "Taylor" sand production in the Champagnolle field, but the producing area was soon outlined. In November, 1935, the J. E. Crosbie, Inc., NO. 1 Sullivant in sec. 12, 17s. 14W., producing 560 bbl. per day at 3175 ft., opened a new sand lens in the eastern part of the field. The Camden "oil field," discovered in the last week of 1934, remained a one-well field, although four offset tests were drilled, besides a number of others in the immediate vicinity. Several interesting deep tests were drilled during the year, which added a great deal to the general knowledge of the subsurface formations and the structure of south Arkansas, but were not particularly encouraging as to prospects for the very deep production. First, the H. L. Hunt, No. 15 E. F. Gregory well in sec. 10, 17S., 14\W., in the Champagnolle field, was drilled to a depth of 6911 ft. It pene-trated red beds for 2982 ft., from 2943 to 5925 ft., mostly if riot entirely of Lower Cretaceous age. There was some anhydrite in the last 135 ft. of red beds. This was followed by 890 ft. of limestone, probahly Permian, and the rock salt was struck at 6815 ft. The salt is now generally conceded to be of Permian age. Finding salt in this well strongly indicates

Jan 1, 1936

By Robert S. Schecter, Mark P. Walsh, Michael J. Humenick

In recent years in situ leach mining has emerged as a viable technology for the recovery of uranium from strata in South Texas which contain relatively low concentrations of uranium ore. Because the ore bodies lie within ground-water aquifers, a significant determinant in the economics is the requirement that such aquifers be protected from contamination. Since ammonia is one of the constituents of the leach solutions now being field tested, one environmental problem to be resolved is the removal of ammonia at the end of mining. A second related question is the fate of the ammonia which is not removed by the restoration procedure. This paper considers the displacement and migration of ammonium in a flowing electrolyte with concomitant ion exchange. The ion exchange is an important feature since, during the solution mining phase, ammonium saturates the mineral exchange sites and must be removed from these sites. A mathematical model is used to simulate this process and the model is tested against the results of laborator.y experiments. It is found that the simulations are adequate if an appropriate selection of parameters is made. The model is then used to investigate the effect of cation composition and concentration of the restoration medium as well as dispersion on the overall effectiveness of the process. It is concluded that increasing the concentration of monovalent ions in a solution containing a mixture of both monovalent and divalent ions decreases the adsorption selectivity of the divalent ions with respect to all monovalent ions including ammonium. Thus increasing the ionic concentration of a restoration fluid by increasing the concentration of a nonselectively adsorbed (with respect to ammonium) ion may have a very limited benefit.

Jan 1, 1979

By Edwin B. Johnson

The success of self-fluxed sinter in enhancing the operation of the blast furnace during the past few years has reasonably led to the assumption that the use of self-fluxed pellets might result in even greater furnace efficiencies. A great share of development work in agglomeration has been directed towards techniques related to the production of self-fluxed pellets, but no appreciable tonnage of self-fluxed pellets had been produced on a commercial scale until this past year when The Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. produced 35,000 tons of such pellets by the grate kiln system at the Republic mine during the period May 21-June 5, 1962.

Jan 3, 1963

Jan 1, 1881

By K. A. Semlak, F. N. Rhines

NFILTRATION is a term used to designate that i- process by which the pores of a metal powder are filled with a relatively low-melting liquid metal through the action of capillary forces. This is accomplished in practice either by heating the porous body in contact with the solid infiltrant metal above the melting point of the latter, or by preheating the porous body separately and then dipping it into the liquid metal. The liquid, as it sweeps through the porous body, replaces the gases progressively, thus yielding a relatively dense product in a short time.' Liquid-phase sintering, which is related to infiltration, is a process by which a mixture of two or more metal powders is sintered at a temperature between the liquidus and solidus of the ultimate alloy.' According to Cannon" liquid-phase sintering can be divided into three stages which he calls liquid flow, accommodation, and solid sintering. The largest density increase occurs during the first stage, where the lower melting component melts and, driven by capillary forces, flows among the particles of the higher melting component, where, after dissolution of the bonds between the solid particles, it moves them into close packing. This happens so quickly that little has yet been learned of its mechanism. A study of the rate of capillary rise of a liquid metal in a higher melting metal-powder compact may be expected, therefore, to contribute not only to a firmer understanding of the process of infiltration as such but also to a more extensive knowledge of what occurs during the initial stage of liquid-phase sintering. Theoretical Basis In order to derive a mathematical expression of the rate of infiltration, it has been assumed that a powder compact consists of a great many parallel capillary tubes and that the rate of rise of a liquid in an average capillary channel represents the rise in the entire compact. For a straight capillary, assuming that Poiseuille's law obtains for the non-stationary state and that wetting is very rapid, Ligenza and Bernstein' have derived the following differential eauation of motion where h is the height of rise of the column of liquid at time t, R, is the radius and 1 the length of the capillary, t) and 7, the viscosities of liquid and air, respectively, p and p, the density of the liquid and air, respectively, y the liquid-gas surface tension, 0 the liquid-solid contact angle, and g the acceleration due to gravity. The term on the left of Equation [I] represents the rate of change of momentum of the contents of the capillary tube. On the right the terms represent, respectively, the forces due to a) surface tension, b) viscous resistance, c) gravity, and d) end-drag effect. Equation [I] is not amenable to explicit solution, but for a tube of sufficiently small radius, the rate of rise may be slow enough so that the rate of change of momentum and end-drag terms may be neglected. The validity of this simplification was established by Ligenza and Bernstein' by graphical differentiation of observed data obtained from organic liquids rising in glass tubes. The solution of this simplified case is:

Jan 1, 1959

By R. H. Jacoby, M. J. Rzasa

Experimental equilibrium vaporization ratios (K values) were obtained for nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, ethane and hydrogen sulfide in two natural gas-absorber oil mixtures and in two natural gas-Elk Basin crude oil mixtures. For each mixture of constant over-all composition, data were obtained at 100°, 150° and 200°F and at various pressures in the range 200 to 5,000 psia. Some effects of composition on the K values were obtained to serve as a guide in choosing K's for engineering calculations on other mixtures. The pressure cell used to obtain the data is a new type and is described here for the first time. INTRODUCTION The phase equilibria of complex hydrocarbon mixtures such as natural gases, crude oils and their mixtures have been studied previously for the purpose of finding equilibrium vaporization ratios for the hydrocarbon constitutents. In a few cases, such non-hydrocarbon.: as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide were included in the mixture. studied because they occur. in the fluids obtained from petroleum reservoirs. The increasing occurrerce. of these non-liydrocarbon.; antl their growing economic importance. make it necessary to account for them more accurately in engineering calculation.: than is now possible using the meager published data. The available data for non-hydrocarbons may he classified into two groups: namely, binary mixtures of a hydrocarbon and a non-hydrocarbon. and mixtures containing three or more components, only one of which is a non-hydrocarbon. Amon: the former. phase analyses are available for two nitrogen-HC mixtures, tve carbon dioxide-HC mixtures and three hydrogen sulfide-HC mixtures. Data for more complex mixtures are available as follows: Nitrogen-Methane-Pentane'; Nitrogen-Methane-Hexane,'; Nitrogen-Methane-Heptane'; Carbon dioxide-Natural Gas-Natural Gasorline": Carbon dioxide-Natural Gas-Crude Oil". These data have been used generally lor engineering calculations, often with little regard for their precise applicability because data for the non-hydrocarbons in the complex mixtures being dealt with were not available. The use of K values from binary data for calculation:; involving complex mixtures is open to criticism because such K's are not a function of composition and very often show large differences from the K's for the same components in a complex mixture. Thus the effects of composition must be evaluated when obtaining K's for components in complex mixtures. Poettmann and Katz " varied the carbon dioxide content of their mixture.; from about five to ten mol per cent and found substantially no effect on the K values due to this change. This was not surprising since one might expect that changing a minor com-ponent by * three mol per cent would have little effect. It is more important to find the composition change which have the largest effect on the K values. For example. varying the methane or heptanes — plus compositions over a wide rangr may have a large effect on the K'. of all components in the mixture. Interesting data to this effect were obtained by Eilerts and Smith." It was toward these problems that the experimental data presented here were directed. EQUIPMENT The pressure cell used to obtain the data i:. somewhat dif-ferent from those which have been described in the past. Photographs of the equipment are shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 1 Shows. the front panel: from a .rated position at the right the

Jan 1, 1952

By J. Suiter, H. F. Ryan

H. F. Ryan and J. Suiter (CSIRO)—In this paper the authors have presented "a physical model which has as its central hypothesis the solution strengthening of regions along grain boundaries in the order of tens of angstroms thick", and their calculations have used 40Å as the zhalf-width of this boundary region. Selection of this value by the authors suggests that they were unaware of a number of recent field-ion microscope observations of grain boundary structures (e.g., Refs. 29 and 30). The accompanying figure, Fig. 9, shows a portion of an ion micrograph of a tungsten specimen containing a grain boundary, and the regular arrangement of atoms in various crystal planes in each grain can be seen, except in the boundary zone which is not more than two atom diameters in width. Since it is expected that solute atoms will segregate only to the region where the lattice is disturbed, it would seem that a value of 4Å for the half-width of the boundary region would be more appropriate than the value of 40Å assumed by the authors. If the former value is used in Eq. [8] of their paper to obtain curves showing solute concentration in the grain boundary as a function of temperature, the resulting curves differ significantly from those obtained by the authors. Although there are only relatively slight changes in the regions corresponding to higher temperatures (i.e., grain boundary concentrations of approximately 1 at. pet), at lower temperatures the curves are no longer realistic. For example, the curve corresponding to u = 7000 cal per mole gives a solute grain boundary concentration in excess of 100 pet at a temperature of approximately 360°K, and "flattens out" at a grain boundary concentration of about 300 pet! Similar results are obtained with each of the other curves. Ion microscopy of dilute solid-solution alloys has shown that solute atoms give rise to image points which in most cases are of higher intensity than those of the solvent atoms.31 If the same behavior occurs when the solute atoms are present in much lower concentrations then ion microscopy should provide a sensitive tool for studying the segregation of impurities to the grain boundary regions. Although many grain boundaries in tungsten have been examined after different thermal and mechanical treatments, there has not been, as yet, any systematic study of such segregation. In general the micrographs show no clear indications of marked grain boundary segregation, but occasionally areas are found where the grain boundary contains an appreciable number of image points of high intensity in a very narrow zone, see Fig. 9. If it is assumed that these correspond to impurity atoms then it is possible to estimate the impurity concentration both in the grain boundary and within the body of the grains. Application of this method (to a larger area

Jan 1, 1965

By E. L. Dougherty, J. W. Sheldon

Using the numerical techniques shown in this paper it is possible to compute the simultaneous dynamical behavior of multiple fluid-fluid interfaces in two dimensions. Hence, fluid-fluid inter face models of several oil recovery processes can be constructed which allow prediction of the effect of fluid flow in two dimensions on the behavior of these processes while taking into account various physical effects, such as saturation gradients, phase changes and thermal stimulation. Techniques for constructing fluid-fluid interface approximations for several oil recovery processes are reuiewed. The validity of these techniques is established by comparison to experimental results. The availability of a computer program for computing the behavior of multiple fluid-fluid interface problems makes the use of potentiometric models uneconomic. The results indicate the areal sweep efficiencies obtained from potentiometric model studies at high mobility ratios may be somewhat optimistic. The results also indicate that the areal sweep efficiency curves obtained at high viscosity ratios 2—4 using miscible fluids in porous media are misleading and that considerable care must be taken in defining the mobility ratio for a displacement process, especially for miscible fluids. INTRODUCTION Many of the methods used to estimate areal sweep efficiency assume that the oil recovery process can be represented by one or more fluid-fluid interfaces. When the mobilities of the displaced and displacing phases are assumed equal, this quantity can be computed using analytical mathematical methods.l.2 For non-unit mobility ratio, experimental methods based upon the fluid-fluid interface concept include potentiometric and electrolytic blotter models. Scaled models of porous media have also been used to study this problem. Fay and Prats3 and Aronofsky4 used numerical techniques to compute breakthrough sweep efficiency, but neither of these studies were extended beyond breakthrough. Numerical techniques which have been developed for solving a general fluid-fluid interface problem are presented in a companion paper.5 These techniques have been incorporated into a program for a large-scale digital computer which can treat simultaneously the dynamical behavior of as many as six fluid-fluid interfaces. Thus it is possible to simulate the behavior of several oil recovery processes taking into account such effects as saturation gradients. Techniques for representing several oil recovery processes by fluid-fluid interfaces are presented. Processes considered are conventional water flooding with and without a mobile gas phase, hot water flooding, miscible flooding and enriched gas drive. Other processes, whose effects could be studied by this technique, but are not considered in detail here, are underground combustion and steam injection processes and various slug processes such as gas-water injection and alcohol-solvent processes. Theoretical results obtained with single interfaces for mobility ratios of 0.25, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 in a repeated five-spot are compared to experimental results for this geometrical configuration obtained using miscible fluids and conductive analogs. Predicted recovery curves for water flooding in a repeated five-spot are compared to experimental results reported in the literature. Example calculations are shown for a conventional water flood in the presence of a free gas phase and for a hot-water flood. MATHEMATICAL PRELIMINARIES We assume that the rock matrix is homogeneous with constant thickness, absolute permeability and porosity. The fluids are incompressible. We also neglect the effects of gravity.

Jan 1, 1965

By J. E. Hilliard

Various methods are given for estimating the number per unit volume and average size of convex particles from measurements on a projection through a slice of the structure. The determination of the size distribution is considered specifically for spherical particles. The results are applicable to any type of transmission microscopy and also to the correction of measurements made by reflected light on semitransparent materials. WITH the advent of electron transmission microscopy, the metallurgist is confronted with the problem of relating a projected image to the three-dimensional properties of the structure. This paper deals with the estimation of the number per unit volume and size of particles dispersed in a matrix. The case of convex particles will first be treated (the results will be applicable as approximations to particles of more general shape) and then spherical particles will be considered specifically. The latter represent a special case frequently encountered in practice and one which is also amenable to a calculation of the effect of overlap on the observed particle-size distribution. Although the present treatment was prompted by the needs of the electron microscopist, the results are applicable to transmission studies with any type of radiation. In addition, they can be used in the analysis of semitransparent materials by reflected light, the depth of light penetration corresponding to the thickness of the slice or section used in the transmission studies. 1) CONVEX PARTICLES 1.1) General Expression for N,. We will suppose that a "center" (such as the center of mass) is assigned to each particle. The convention used for defining the center is immaterial providing it does not depend on the orientation or location of the particle. Consider a slice through the structure having a pair of parallel faces a distance t apart. It will be assumed that the slice is randomly located with respect to its perpendicular distance from some fixed point, but it is not necessary to assume that its orientation is random. Our problem is to deduce the relationship between the number of par- ticle images seen on an orthogonal projection through the slice with the number, Nv, of particles per unit volume in the original structure.* *Symbols are listed in the Table. The expected number of particles with centers lying within the slice is Nvt per unit area. In addition, there will be elements in the slice contributed by particles whose centers lie without. The number of such elements will be the same as the number of intersections occurring on a two-dimensional plane through the structure; namely N~K, where K is the mean distance, Fig. 1, between tangent planes to a particle averaged over all particles, i.e., Where Ni is the number of particles of class i having the same shape and size, and pi (4, 8) is the probability that an i particle will have a given orientation with respect to the slice. If the particles are randomly oriented, then K is independent of the orientation of the slice and equal to the mean cali-per diameter. The total number of particle elements in the slice is therefore Nv(t + K) per unit area, but fewer will be seen as separate images on the projection plane because of overlap. If MA is the number of elements "lost" by overlap, the number of images per unit area will be NA = Nv(t + K) -MA 121 MA is a function of the slice thickness and must vanish at t = 0. As t increases, NA at first increases, reaches a maximum, and thereafter decreases as the overlap term MA becomes predomi-

Jan 1, 1962

Executive Committee. Louis D. HUNTOON, Chairman. ARTHUR S. DWIGHT, Vice- Chairman. E. MALTBY SHIPP, Treasurer. GEORGE F. KUNZ, HOMAS T. READ, Secretary. Woolworth Building, New York, N. Y. Meeting, May 2,1913. The Annual Meeting of the New York Section was held at the Engineering Societies Building, Friday evening. May 1913, at 8 p.m. Dr: Kunz presided. The Annual Report of the Secretary-Treasurer was read and accepted. Mr. Colvocoresses offered the following amendments to the By-Laws: ARTICLE II: First paragraph amended to read as follows: "The officers of this Section shall be. a Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer." In the second paragraph the word "four " to be changed to " five." ARTICLE V : The following paragraph to be inserted: ' The funds of this Section shall be received by the Treasurer, and shall be paid out only by check signed by the Treasurer, and in case of his absence or inability, the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, or the Secretary may act for the Treasurer." On motion duly seconded the amendments were adopted as read. The Nominating Committee, appointed by the Chairman, recommended the following men for officers : Chairman., Louis D. Huntoon ; Vice-Chair-man, Arthur S. Dwight; Secretary, Thomas T. Read, and Treasurer, E. Maltby Shipp. There being no other nominations, Mr. Rand moved that the Secretary be authorized to cast the vote for the members in favor of the men nominated. Motion carried. In reply to the circulars mailed regarding the summer outing the Secretary reported that 89 members approved and 9 did not approve of such an outing. The Chairman introduced Dr. M. Belowsky, of the University of Berlin, who addressed the meeting in German. Following Dr. Belowsky, the speaker of the evening, A. H. Fay; of the Bureau of Mines, discussed Metal Mine. Accidents.

Jan 6, 1913

By George A. Packard

THE experiments here described were made under my supervision while temporarily acting as head of the Department of Metallurgy at the Missouri School of Mines, at Rolla. The work was done by Messrs. W. E. Brown, W. C. Richards, and F. L. L. Wilson, and the description of the results forms a portion of a thesis presented for the degree of Bachelor of Science. These results are submitted because I have seen no description of the application of pot roasting to the treatment of a copper-concentrate. This work followed that already described in the discussion of the ' Lime-Roasting of a Galena-Concentrate,"' and was similarly occasioned by the lack of a furnace of the reverberatory type in which the copper-concentrates could be smelted. The material for the tests was a mixture of three lots available. The first consisted of 8-mm. jig-concentrates and the second of 0.5 mm. table-concentrates, from the San Juan district, Colo. Both contained pyrite, chalcopyrite and galena. The third was a lot of copper-ore, found in the laboratory, which had been crushed through 8-mm. screen, and had at some previous time, before the laboratory roasting-furnace was torn down, received a partial roasting. The analyses of these ores are given in Table I. In order to determine the applicability of pot-roasting as to each lot of ore, and the effect of varying proportions of lime, six preliminary tests were made in a " size N " Battersea crucible, 9 in. high by 6 in. in diameter at top, with a 5/8 in. hole bored through the bottom. The crucible was set in the upturned elbow of a 2-in. pipe, the joint being luted with clay; and air was obtained from a receiver supplied by a compressor. The

Jan 1, 1908

By N. F. Dyson, T. R. Scott, M. R. Thornber, W. E. Ewers, M. Bussell

Leach liquors derived from the processing of nickel ores are generally highly contaminated and contain appreciable free acid. Methods are described for obtaining a commercial grade of concentrate from such solutions using pyrrhotite as the seed material to abstract nick- el, cobalt, etc. from solution. At temperatures in excess of 160° C., recoveries of 99% can be obtained from contaminated solutions where the free acidity is as high as 0.5 M in sulphuric acid. At lower temperatures down to 80° C., high recoveries can also be obtained either by adding H2S to the system with appropriate adjustment of the free acidity or by using "activated" pyrrhotite or artificial FeS in the system without prior addition of H2S. The methods are applicable to liquors derived from either oxide or sulphide ores, and the products are suitable for smelting or other known processes used to obtain pure metals. The mechanism of the reaction appears to vary with the operating temperature, and the results ye therefore discussed in the light of electron probe and optical microscopic studies.

Jan 1, 1973

By Clare B. Carlson, C. P. Proctor

THE history of the froth flotation of coal is relatively short. The flotation process was applied to fine-coal cleaning about the time of the end of World War I. Coal flotation finds more widespread use in Europe than in the United States and is used on a commercial scale in nearly all major coal-producing countries in the world. In Fig. 1 the general arrangement of a froth-flotation plant at a British colliery is shown. GENERAL FEATIJIEES OF THE PROCESS Application The flotation process is applicable to the cleaning of the fine sizes, particularly minus 48-mesh coal, although it may be used on sizes as coarse as 1/8 in. Since most cleaning processes usually are not effective on sizes smaller than 48-mesh and certainly not effective on minus 100- mesh, the froth-flotation process offers a solution to the problem of cleaning these sizes. This process consists-of agitating the feed pulp with a small amount of reagents, usually 1.0 to 2 ½ lb. per ton of feed in the presence of water and air; the reagents help to form small bubbles that collect on the particles having a greater affinity for the bubble surface than for the water surface, in this case the fine coal, and the bubbles buoy these particles to the surface to form the frothor concentrate. Slate and shale particles remain wetted and suspended in the water to be drawn off as tailing. The frothers commonly used in coal flotation are cresylic acid, pine oil, and alcohols. More expensive frothers, used in ore flotation, work satisfactorily but do not compare with these cheaper reagents for over-all cost. Collectors- used are low-grade petroleum fractions, such as cheap, partly refined fuel oil, or lubricating oil, sometimes mixed with small amounts of kerosene. Other collectors used are the fatty acids and their

Jan 1, 1943

By Clare B. Carlson, C. P. Proctor

THE history of the froth flotation of coal is relatively short. The flotation process was applied to fine-coal cleaning about the time of the end of World War I. Coal flotation finds more widespread use in Europe than in the United States and is used on a commercial scale in nearly all major coal-producing countries in the world. In Fig. 1 the general arrangement of a froth-flotation plant at a British colliery is shown. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE PROCESS Application The flotation process is applicable to the cleaning of the fine sizes, particularly minus 48-mesh coal, although it may be used on sizes as coarse as % in. Since most cleaning processes usually are not effective on sizes smaller than 48-mesh and certainly not effective on minus 100¬mesh, the froth-flotation process offers a solution to the problem of cleaning these sizes. This process consists of agitating the feed pulp with a small amount of reagents, usually 1.0 to 91/ lb. per ton of feed in the presence of water and air; the reagents help to form small bubbles that collect on the particles having a greater affinity for the bubble surface than for the water surface, in this case the fine coal, and the bubbles buoy these particles to the surface to form the froth or concentrate. Slate and shale particles remain wetted and suspended in the water to be drawn off as tailing. The frothers commonly used in coal flotation are cresylic acid, pine oil, and alcohols. More expensive frothers, used in ore flotation, work satisfactorily but do not compare with these cheaper reagents for over-all cost. Collectors used are low-grade petroleum fractions, such as cheap, partly refined fuel oil, or lubricating oil, sometimes mixed with small amounts of kerosene. Other collectors used are the fatty acids and their

Jan 1, 1943

By R. H. Brown

EARLY workers attempted to study the structure of alloys by measurement of equilibrium electrode potentials in aqueous solutions containing ions of the metals from which the alloy was made.1 The method was subject to such limitations (e.g., the difficulty in attaining electro-chemical equilibrium at low temperatures) that it has not been widely used by metallurgists. Recently, Seltz and co-workers have introduced a greatly improved method for studying alloys by measurement of equilib-rium electrode potentials in molten salts.2-4 The mathematical treatment is the same, of course, as for equilibrium potentials of amalgams in aqueous solutions.5 This method will probably find extensive use, since it makes possible not only the deter-mination of phase fields of equilibrium diagrams but also the determination of certain thermodynamic quantities which can be used advantageously in metal-lurgical calculations. However, the method presents difficulties. With many metallic and alloy electrodes, reversibility is not readily obtainable. Also, the difficulty of obtaining suitable material from which to make the cells is increased as the temper-ature is increased. Moreover, the necessity of carrying out measurements in a vacuum requires additional apparatus and intro-duces considerable difficulty, especially at the higher temperatures.

Jan 1, 1940

By D. K. Bose, C. K. Gupta, K. U. Nair

A new approach to processing an indigenously available low grade molysulfide concentrate by chlorination with elemental chlorine in presence of oxygen is reported. Recovery of nickel and copper values associated with the sulfide concentrate by suitably treating the residue obtained after chlorination is also reported. In the chlorination process, a gaseous mixture of chlorine and oxygen in the volume ratio bf 2:5 has been passed at 1.66 x 10- 5 m3/s for 1800 s over a 0.01 kg batch of molysulfide concentrate at a temperature of 573°K. Most of the molybdenum has been volatilized as molybdenum oxychloride which has subsequently been extracted in water. The molybdenum value from the aqueous solution has been recovered in the form of calcium molybdate (CaO.MoO3) by treatment with calcium chloride (CaCI2). In an alternative processing scheme, the molybdenum rich solution has been treated with an oxidizing agent (K2S20f.J) and allowed to boil to recover a major portion of the molybdenum value in the form of molybdic oxide (MOOS). The spent charge obtained after molysulfide chlorination has been mixed with about 1 wt % sodium chloride and heated at 773K under an oxygen atmosphere. The reacted mass has been water-leached to yield a nickel-copper bearing solution with limited iron. The process liquor appears to be well suited for further processing by known hydrometallurgical recovery processes for nickel and copper. In the conventional process of molybdenum extraction, the molysulfide concentrate (-59% Mo) is first subjected to roasting to produce molybdic oxide. The oxide is then further processed in sequential steps involving vacuum distillation, ammonia leaching, and calcination to higher purity prior to hydrogen reduction to metal. In India there is at present some small tonnage production of molysulfide concentrate from a byproduct recovery plant of the M/s. Uranium Corp. of India Ltd. (M/s UCIL), Bihar. Efforts are being made at this laboratory to process the low grade fraction of the concentrate which contains sulfides of copper, nickel, and iron; quartz; and chlorites. Here, the conventional routes involving roasting and vacuum distillation appear unsuitable to produce an acceptable quality of molybdic oxide at high recoveries. Formation during roasting molybdates of some of the impurities present in the sulfide concentrate make subsequent vacuum distillation less efficient. In view of these problems, in earlier work reported from this laboratory the low grade concentrate has been processed hydrometallurgically to P. produce calcium molybdate. Starting from this molybdenum intermediate, processes have also been developed for the production of molybdenum and ferromolybdenum. Chlorination as an alternative to roasting for metal sulfides has been drawing considerable interest. The high reactivity of chlorine, the relatively low temperature of operation, the suitability of application to low grade resources, the convenience of recovering sulfur in non-polluting form, and the purity of chlorides which are separated by distillation all favor chlorination. In recent years, considerable work has been reported on the chlorination of common metal sulfides. In the field of molybdenum extraction from its sulfide resource, use of chlorination technology has been rather limited. Senderoff and Labrie3 were the first to chlorinate molysulfide concentrate with elemental chlorine at about 823°K to molybdenum pentachloride for use in the electrolytic preparation of molybdenum. The only other reported work, by Haver, Uchida and Wong, involved reaction between molysulfide and chlorine at 673°K to recover sulfur. The reaction products were, however, identified as molybdenum pentachloride and sulfur monochloride.

Jan 1, 1979

Photographs of Officers

Jan 1, 1923

By John Henry Harden

WITH imperfect instruments it is impossible to make accurate surveys; the results are inaccurate maps, with their attendant consequences. The design of the writer is to describe an improved form of tripod head, and certain defects in an English transit and a miners' dial, with the method taken to remedy the defects of the transit. When the present transit superseded the surveyor's compass, there was one special objection brought against it, and with some show of reason ; namely, that the tripod of the compass with its ball and socket motion, allowed a quicker levelling-up (and, consequently, more work) than was possible with the transit. To this objection it was replied, that the ball and socket would not allow the instrument to be levelled with the same degree of precision that could be attained with the levelling screws, and that if time was sacrificed greater accuracy was attained. Nevertheless, it is a well-known fact that in this country, and especially in England, the compass or miners' dial holds its ground solely from its rapid adjustment. Ever since the introduction of the transit, efforts have been made to give to this instrument the same facility of levelling possessed by the compass or dial, and the same means have been tried, i. e., a . ball and socket motion, since a modification of this in some form was the only method that would answer. The upper part of a transit is, however, much heavier than the corresponding parts of a compass, and, therefore, requires more binding power, which cannot be ob¬tained with an ordinary ball and socket joint. It has been a study with instrument-makers to combine the facility of these two tripods -the quickness of the ball and socket with the steadiness and accuracy of the screws; but in all attempts in this direction the ball and socket of the compass has been literally followed, the entire stability of the instrument depending upon the friction of the ball in its socket. There is great need for a tripod that can be more easily manipulated than the present form, for it rarely happens that an engineer has a level surface on which to set his instrument, and very often

Jan 1, 1879